Take Your Pick!
Take Your Pick! was the game show where unsuspecting people faced 11 boxes with surprises inside. Gameplay Forfits (Earlier Series) In the earliest series of the Miles version, audience members had to complete stunts. If successful, they went on to the opening game. Opening Game: Yes/No The show always started off with the Yes/No game. The host asked a series of questions (not always restricted to "yes" or "no") and the contestant in control answered them; all for the duration of 60 seconds (one minute). The catch was that the contestant couldn't say "yes" or "no", and he/she couldn't nod nor shake his/her head. If any of those infractions occurred, the co-host would gong him/her out of the game. If the contestant didn't get gonged when the time was up,he/she stayed in the game. After six contestants played, the four contestants who lasted the longest played the boxes. In the Miles version, contestants who lasted the full minute received a bonus of 5/- (25p), while in the O'Connor version, all contestants received £1 for every second they lasted during their turn. The Boxes Before a contestant was a pyramid of 10 boxes numbered 1-10. There was also an 11th box numbered "13" for reasons unknown. Inside those boxes were prizes. In the regular boxes, five of them were moderate UK game show merchandise prizes, three were booby prizes, one was a treasure chest filled with cash, and the last one was the star prize (usually a new car or a luxury holiday). One by one, the survivors of the Yes/No game were asked up to four general knowledge questions, and if they answered three of them correctly, they would be able to pick a box by it's number. But before he/she could look inside to see what he/she won, the host would try to offer the contestant money in exchange for that box, adding more money each time the contestant refused. In the Miles version, he only offered up to about £50, while in the O'Connor version, he offered hundreds of pounds. When the decision was finally made, they would look inside the box to see what the contestant won or turned down. The catch was that the prizes were placed in the boxes randomly; so the host didn't know what was in each box. However, there was one exception: Box 13 One of the normal ten boxes activated Box 13. The home audience would always be shown the number of the box that would do so. If the contestant picked that box and refused the money, he/she could pass on his/her original choice which activated the box and take Box 13 instead, or stay with the original box. Inside Box 13 was an everyday object, which usually served as a clue to a mystery prize; however, it was sometimes the actual prize, and nothing more. Either way, the host always knew what that prize was, and the home audience would always be shown the name of the object. The mystery prize could be a good prize or a booby prize. Trivia This was the very first British game show to ever air on commercial television, as well as the first one to offer cash prizes (the BBC didn't offer such prizes at the time). In Popular Culture This show was spoofed not just once, but twice in Monty Python's Flying Circus. The first time was in the episode The Attila the Hun Show as Spot the Braincell, where a Pepperpot named Mrs. Scum (played by Terry Jones) tries to win the star prize of a "blow on the head" from an insane version of Michael Miles (played by John Cleese)The Sketch in Full; and the second time was in the episode Spam, where, in the courtroom scene of the phrasebook sketch, the prosecutor (played by Eric Idle) gongs defendant Alexander Yahlt (played by Michael Palin) when he answers "yes" during a series of questions similar to those in the Yes/No part of the game (although presumably, Yahlt was unaware of playing the game in the first place).Begins @ 2:47 References YouTube Links Miles Version Yes/No Interlude Star Prize Winner O'Connor Version First Episode (NOTE: Intro is missing) Full Episode from 1994 Full Episode from 1997 *Part 1 *Part 2 *Part 3 Category:Gambling Category:Decision Making Category:Family Game Category:Long-Running Category:Revivals Category:ITV Shows Category:1955 premieres Category:1968 endings Category:1992 premieres Category:1998 endings